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A Fresh Look On Music and Pop Culture
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Drake’s So Far Gone Is On All Streaming Services For Its 10th Anniversary and I’m Having Major Nostalgia Vibeshttps://freshpairofiis.com/2019/02/18/drakes-so-far-gone-is-on-all-streaming-services-for-its-10th-anniversary-and-im-having-major-nostalgia-vibes/
https://freshpairofiis.com/2019/02/18/drakes-so-far-gone-is-on-all-streaming-services-for-its-10th-anniversary-and-im-having-major-nostalgia-vibes/#respondMon, 18 Feb 2019 20:41:58 +0000http://freshpairofiis.com/?p=6870

Image Drake posted when releasing So Far Gone

Drake uploaded So Far Gone on February 13, 2009 and I can’t say I was online waiting for it. Not that I was late on Drake; of course I had seen him on Degrassi, but I was also familiar with his song “Replacement Girl” with Trey Songz. I just didn’t know anything about his blog, octobersveryown.blogspot.com or that he was still releasing music. But once I did, I was HOOKED on So Far Gone. I would listen to it obsessively basically until Thank Me Later came out and then I mixed those two together.

So Far Gone had a major influence on me. Not only did I become obsessed with Drake, it introduced to a lot of other artists and mixtapes that came up in 2009, such as J. Cole, Kid Cudi, and Wiz Khalifa. It influenced me to start my first blog (the big sister of this website). It led me to getting my master’s degree in Music Business from NYU and writing my thesis on using mixtapes as a business model. It got me into going to concerts and which eventually led to concert photography and this website. It also got me into spending way too much on concert merchandise.

Some interesting tidbits about So Far Gone and Drake during this era:

This was the original artwork for the “Best I Ever Had” single

It was deemed too obscure so it was replaced with this.

OVO used to post all the time to their blog on blogspot. You can still see the old posts, and they still post on it.

The original So Far Gone EP that was released on CD only had seven songs, including the new track, “Fear,” which remains my favorite Drake song.

This was the original artwork for “Fear”

Whats your favorite songs from So Far Gone? My top five are “Little Bit,” ” Best I Ever Had,” “Uptown,” “Sooner Than Later,” and “Brand New.

It shouldn’t be surprising that “R.E.M.” is one of her favorites because she has that tattooed behind her ear.

She previously shared her top five for her previous three albums, Yours Truly, My Everything, and Dangerous Woman which you can check out here. When Sweetener came out, she said several songs that she liked, but this seems like a more definite list.

She’s mentioned off thank u, next that her current two favorite are “fake smile” and “make up.”

My annual collection of love songs. Whoever you are celebrating with, even if its just the best person around, these songs will give you the warm and fuzzies.

]]>https://freshpairofiis.com/2019/02/14/valentines-playlist-2019/feed/0freshpairofiisgiphy7 Rings No More – Ariana Grande Gives 8th Ring To Someone Importanthttps://freshpairofiis.com/2019/02/07/7-rings-no-more-ariana-grande-gives-8th-ring-to-someone-important/
https://freshpairofiis.com/2019/02/07/7-rings-no-more-ariana-grande-gives-8th-ring-to-someone-important/#respondThu, 07 Feb 2019 16:46:02 +0000http://freshpairofiis.com/?p=6858Ariana Grande’s new single, “7 Rings,” is named after the rings that she purchased for herself and 6 friends during a rendezvous at Tiffany & Co. However, she gave an eight ring away on the set “7 Rings” to Hannah Lux Davis. A frequent director of Grande’s videos, it is no surprise that she made this sweet gesture to give Davis a ring. Check out her giving the ring in the clip below.

Check out all of Ariana Grade’s and Hannah Lux Davis’ past collaborations below:

Nao’s energy is magnetic and you feel like you are being pulled into her orbit. That is the best way to describe the captivating performance that Nao put on at the Majestic Theatre. She even started the show in the center of the audience, opening with “Another Lifetime.”

Nao had as much fun at the show as her fans did. She danced around to every song, smiling and giddy the entire time. She had a free spirit and attitude that you can only gain from coming out the storm.

Nao explained the meaning behind the title of her album, Saturn. Saturn’s orbital period is about 29 years, so once it goes back to the same position it did once you were born, many changes happen. You tend to reevaluate your relationships or make major decisions, so the album is about that period in her life.

Nao isn’t one of those divas that forgets where she came from. She remembered people in the crowd from previous shows. She also shouted out her band that she has been with for five years, even before she could pay them. My favorite touch of the show is when she passed out balloons resembling the ones from her Saturn album cover.

Saturn is about letting go and moving on, but we shouldn’t move on from Nao anytime soon.

Merchandise Situation:

Her merchandise included a t-shirt, backpack, hoodie, poster, hat, CD and vinyl. The most expensive item was the hoodie for $40. The vinyl ($25) and CD were both signed and I thought those were pretty cute. Most of the merchandise seemed to be only available on the tour and not online.

Setlist:

(this is the Portland show on Jan 14, and despite minor shakeups in the order, the setlist for the Detorit show was about the same)

Another Lifetime

If You Ever

Make It Out Alive

Fool to Love

Adore You

Gabriel

Orbit

Inhale Exhale

Complicated

Get to Know Ya

A Life Like This

Saturn

Girlfriend

Yellow of the Sun

Firefly

(Mura Masa cover)

Drive and Disconnect

Bad Blood

]]>https://freshpairofiis.com/2019/01/29/nao-brought-detroit-fans-into-her-orbit-with-her-saturn-tour/feed/0freshpairofiisdsc_0893dsc_0912dsc_0918dsc_0944dsc_0894Panorama Music Festival Isn’t Happening In 2019, Here Is How Much Flights Are To Get To Other Festivals From NYChttps://freshpairofiis.com/2019/01/27/panorama-music-festival-isnt-happening-in-2019-here-is-how-much-flights-are-to-get-to-other-festivals-from-nyc/
https://freshpairofiis.com/2019/01/27/panorama-music-festival-isnt-happening-in-2019-here-is-how-much-flights-are-to-get-to-other-festivals-from-nyc/#respondSun, 27 Jan 2019 17:57:50 +0000http://freshpairofiis.com/?p=6840Panorama, the New York music festival that started in 2016, is taking a year off in 2019. The 2018 festival had its issues; the first day was canceled due to weather. It is taking a hiatus to hopefully allow it to be moved to its original desired location, Queens.

While New York still has the Governor’s Ball, here are other festivals you can travel to and how much much flights cost from New York as of January 25.

Bonnaroo

Lollapalooza

NYC to Chicago-Lollapalooza 7/31-8/5 Averaging $170 according to Kayak

What festival are you thinking of going to?

]]>https://freshpairofiis.com/2019/01/27/panorama-music-festival-isnt-happening-in-2019-here-is-how-much-flights-are-to-get-to-other-festivals-from-nyc/feed/0freshpairofiiscoachella-1546491614-640x853b19_admat_web_v3-317355d9ubvsovm5_400x400Picks for the iHeart Radio 2019 Music Awardshttps://freshpairofiis.com/2019/01/21/picks-for-the-iheart-radio-2019-music-awards/
https://freshpairofiis.com/2019/01/21/picks-for-the-iheart-radio-2019-music-awards/#respondTue, 22 Jan 2019 04:51:32 +0000http://freshpairofiis.com/?p=6837iHeart Radio announced the nominees for the 2019 Music Awards, and if you’ve been listening to the radio at all this past year, none of these nominees should be surprising. Since radio tends to be very mainstream and mostly plays popular music, I was familiar with most of the people in the genres I listen to. My overall takeaway these nominees is that Ella Mai needs to win basically everything she is nominated for. She had a huge year in radio this year with all her singles, and I hope that is reflected in the awards.

Check out my picks below. I greyed out the categories I didn’t feel knowledgeable enough to vote it.

After announcing he will be a part of Coachella this year, Smino put out the dates for his “Smino’s Hoopti Tour” in support of his 2018 album Noir. I am beyond excited for this tour. I’ve seen Smino abut four or five times and I love it each. Such a great, soulful, fun show. Check out some pics I’ve done at his show here.

Netflix released the trailer for their Fyre festival documentary and WTF. I remember when all the drama went down surrounding the festival two years ago, but I would love to get a more in-depth review about all that went down.

Seeing the trailer also inspired me to revisit the the original trailer for the festival. While I don’t think anyone deserves to be scammed, the trailer did not give me a lot of faith in what they were advertising. It was kind of like a Victoria’s Secret commercial mixed with footage with a concert that was not related to Fyre because that was the first year they were going to do it. Also, going to a remote island is never appealing to me.

What do you think of the trailer? Would you have bought tickets to Fyre if you had the money?

Seeing the first lineup for festival season is always surprising because people haven’t released new music yet and you haven’t seen who is on the festival circuit yet. So I’m hoping a lot of these artists release new music and albums to play at these festivals. Its interesting to see Ariana Grande on here; there isn’t usually that many pure pop acts on here, and its great to see another woman headliner. Coachella also has a special connection to Ariana Grande because that is where she did a surprise performance of “No Tears Left To Cry” for the first time.

Check up the full lineup below. You can buy tickets starting Jan 4 here. Prices start at $429 for a weekend pass.